HOLDING ON TO YOU

"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you." 

 Maya Angelou

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Author's POV

It had been more than a month since Poorvika returned from the hospital, and after a few days of recovery, she rejoined the office. Abhimaan had taken great care of her during this time, always making sure she ate on time and never overexerted herself. To the outside world, everything seemed fine. Poorvika herself believed that life was returning to normal, but beneath the surface, things were far from perfect.

Poorvika sat alone on the balcony of her room, her thoughts drifting back to the strange discoveries she had made over the past few days. The revelations had left her mind spinning, and her memories kept pulling her back to the day everything had started to unravel.

Flashback

On the day of the breakfast blunder, Poorvika had been left alone with Anika but returned to the dining room because she'd forgotten to bring her water, something she usually kept in her room. By the time she got there, the Mehras were talking about her, and Poorvika ended up overhearing their conversation. For a moment, her mind went blank. How was she connected to the Mehras? If they really knew her, why hadn't they visited her, even once? Why hadn't they told her about their connection when she first arrived? Why had they kept it hidden from her? So many 'whys' were running through her mind, but there were no answers.

She thought about asking Anika directly, demanding to know why she hadn't been told about this connection. But then, she held back, figuring if Anika knew, she would have already said something. These thoughts weighed heavily on her mind until she eventually drifted into a restless sleep.

Two days had passed since Poorvika overheard that conversation, and it still hadn't left her mind. She acted fine in front of everyone, but when she was alone, her mind wouldn't stop racing, trying to piece things together. She had tried every way she could think of to find answers but found nothing. Frustrated, she decided to join the office, hoping work would distract her from her doubts, at least for now. Without any clues and lacking the courage to confront them directly, she chose to let it slide and just go with the flow.

It was a busy afternoon. Everyone was immersed in their work, including Poorvika, who was buried in files, drafting reports. Suddenly, her phone rang, snapping her out of her focus. It was Abhimaan, calling her to his cabin. She sighed. Since joining the office, Abhimaan had been constantly calling her for the most ridiculous reasons, testing her patience. He would ask her to pick up a pen that had fallen on the ground, saying that as the CEO, it wasn't appropriate for him to bend down. Other times, he'd insist she sit in front of him for hours, reviewing the same document over and over, nitpicking about small spelling errors and misplaced commas.

Annoyed but determined not to lose her cool, she made her way to his cabin. She knocked and entered after hearing his, "Come in." She stood in front of him, waiting for him to speak. If he started with some nonsense again, she had made up her mind to put some sense into him, even if it cost her the job.

"Miss Poorvika, did you finish the production file I gave you yesterday?" Abhimaan asked, leaning back in his chair with a blank expression.

"Yes, sir. I finished it yesterday," Poorvika replied, trying to keep her tone steady.

"Then why didn't you submit it?" Abhimaan asked, raising an eyebrow, still with that same blank face.

For a moment, Poorvika didn't answer. She opened her mouth, but no words came out. Finally, she managed to say, "I didn't know it had to be submitted. I was just asked to review it, that's all."